Lure
by baka coconut
Summary: Fai's trying hard to lure Kuro into returning his affections, but with a crazy inn, an empty world, and far more important things to worry about, how can he win his own game? FxK Spoilers up to ch.177
1. move one space

Hello! I'm giving up on my other story guys, it was kinda a bad idea anyway, boring. BUT NOW! I present you with something hopefully a bit better ;. So, onwards! Also, the POV is Fai's about kurogane.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything made from CLAMP, because if I did, almost every dude would be gay.

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For a long time now, I've been playing a game with you. Slowly, oh so excruciatingly slowly, I've been trying to crack you open. Such a stubborn little clam you are, hiding your valuable treasure and delicate flesh from all eyes. You forget that I can see you though. My eyes serve many purposes, and they possess many talents. I will be the snail that sucks you out of that cute shell of yours and has you for dinner.

We're all walking down some street in some world, looking for something, but I'm interested in other things, other people. Your black spikes bob up and down with your too big strides. Such a struggle to show off that masculinity of yours. Of course, that's part of the reason I love you so much. Ah yes, that's the twist to my little game. Perhaps less of a twist, but more of a sort of motive? Either way, it's an important aspect. I now act on this key part of my game by patting you on the head in just the right way to mess up your hair.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Your face instantly contorts into one of angry surprise and annoyance. I smile at you in my usual style as I dodge your swinging fists, keeping my hand perfectly planted on your head. Maybe someday it'll just grow into your hair so I could just poke and prod your brain to manipulate you in just the right way to make you play along with my emotions. Perhaps I could just twitch your motor cortex in the perfect way to make you finally wrap your arms around me.

"Aw, Kuro-puu! Don't be mad! I just want to pet our Big Puppy!" My legs wrap around you waist while I sling my arm over your shoulder. Mokona hops onto your head to pet your with all four fluffy appendages. Sakura a Syaoran are the back round audience that laughs at the queued times. Moko-chan serves as a good enough distraction. You're too busy trying to throw him into a nearby storm drain to pay much attention to the passenger on your back, being me. I watch the scene from over your shoulder, but not really. I'm simply taking my time in breathing you in, enjoying the way your hair moves like cobwebs and how my legs fit around your waist, resting perfectly on your high hips. Your armor fits you in just the right way to not stick out at odd angles and make me uncomfortable. I figure I've had enough of your savory silk between my fingers, so I tugged on it.

"SERIOUSLY MAGE! THE HELL?! GET OFF!" Your hands reach for my face, but I just smile at them as I push myself off of your back. It was more of a horizontal jump, as I landed a safe distance away. You twirl around, not a trace of grace in the action, and I sweep in close again. I fall into your eyes when they meet so close. Our noses a mere centimeter apart. I open my wanting lips to speak.

"What? You don't want a cute boy such as myself all over you?" A cocky grin, a sultry voice, an invasion of personal space, and a cunning look in one's eye is all it takes to make you speechless. Your eyes are wide, and I'm still drowning in them. With your mouth slightly open, you look far more surprised than you most assuredly are. You stagger away from me, taking away your intoxicating scent once again. I stay in my minutely slanted posture, keeping the same sly look, my eyes still trained on yours.

"What're you trying to pull? Bastard." Resume the scowl and the cocky attitude, and it's all better. The children have continued on their way, Mokona bounding behind them to catch up. They left once you were done torturing Mokona saying that we were just going to play cat and mouse again. Did you notice? Did I catch too much of your attention for you to hear them? I need to know if I'm gaining on you for the lead. I need to beat you in my game. I need my love and my affections to win over your hate and intolerance to anything fun. I'll win, even if I have to eat you alive, you stubborn, stubborn little clam you.

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Ok! So, chapter one done! I hope you all liked it, and that it wasn't too confusing for anyone! To explain the whole snail-clam thing, snails have this thing called a radula. It looks like a drill basically, for like drilling in the ground. It's their mouth, so it's all scary Cracken style. But yeah, so snails slither up to clams or muscles or any other bivalve, drill a little whole in the shell, liquidize the flesh inside, and then suck it out! Think of it as the underwater spider. But yes! I hope you all liked it, sorry for the lack of dialogue, but a lot of my writing happens in the person's head. It's a little weird, but hopefully good! Please review! Thank you for reading!


	2. All in the roll of the dice

I only got one review! I'm gonna cry I swear! Maybe I'm a bit too insane? PLEASE review! Please please please? I get so discouraged and self conscious when I don't get reviews, so please, enable me to continue my career in fic writing by reviewing with constructive criticism or wonderful praise! I'll take anything really, just not flames. They make me sad….. Anyway, enough begging, onto the story!

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.

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So, we've finally arrived at our destination. I must say I'm under whelmed. I believe we've been walking for roughly two days now along an abandoned road to get to this run down city. It's sad in it's dusty state of disrepair. It's obvious that it was once a booming area, but now it's all skid marks and broken bottles. The scent of beer hangs in the air as we make our way into a hotel at the beginning of town.

"Doesn't look like anyone's been here in a long time." Syaoran could date anything. He turned his head around to observe the spider webs and dim light. I look over to you to see your scowl become more creased and foreboding in the strange way the ambient light bounced off of you. As if you weren't unapproachable enough.

"Maybe we should ring the bell? Syaoran-kun?" Sakura tugged on her companion's sleeve for approval. I pressed down a floor board with my foot, just to see how sturdy it was. It curved a bit, like a palm tree in a hurricane, and a few spiders crawled out of the small space created between the floor and the plank. I stared at the tiny black legs and the lime green arrow heads on their backs. They all scurried under the main desk as Syaoran rang the service bell. The sound resounded like a death toll, muffled by the evidence of passed time.

"Why can't the stupid manjuu put us in a place of actual usefulness?" You shift so the light fills in all of your lines, peeling away the extra grimace of shadow. You look far lovelier like this.

I take my mental dice in my hands.

I plop an arm around your shoulder, move my face in closer.

The dice fall to the table.

"Well, if he did that, then we'd have less quality time together, ne Kuro-chii?" I place my pointer finger on the tip of your nose, being as cute as possible, smiling my best smile.

"What I wouldn't do for that blessing." Your mumble announces my luck. Snake eyes. I never was good with luck. Your hand pushes the side of my face away, and I willingly go with it. If only my game worked a little more efficiently.

"Kuro-muu is so mean…" I skip backwards to the outside corners of the bleak glow of the chandelier. I let the shadows cover my grim smile. One of those smiles of irony, the kind that happen when your house burns down with everyone but you in it. I'm glad you push me away though. It keeps me from hurting you, but it still has that bitterness to it. It's like a kick to the solar plexus, pushing the air and the hope right out of me. I still can't decide whether it'd be better to be asphyxiated by you, or hung by my own threads of selfish desire.

"How good it is to have visitors. Not often do people stop by anymore, especially ones such as you." Everyone's face turns in unison to react to the voice from the counter. A woman, dressed in a violet dress and spider webs is standing behind the check-in log, the same green and black spiders from before hanging off of her like tacky jewelry. She makes me think of the women from Tokyo, acid drenched and worn.

"U-uhm, hello. We're travelers in need of rest. Do you happen to have room for us?" Syaoran is always so bold. I watch as Sakura's eyes widen at the prospect of staying a night here.

"Why yes. Room for weary travelers we always have. Have you any currency?" The old hag brushed her wiry hair from her face. I play connect the dots with her pimples.

"Well, no, but we do have things to exchange, if that would do?" He makes a motion towards Mokona and out pops our bag of goodies. Mostly clothes are stored in there, but they've made us a good profit before. Mokona tactfully keeps the swords hidden. I glance over at you and try not to laugh. Your look is one of extreme concentration and intense desperation to not expose your disgust. You never were good at hiding emotions. I've seen right through you. Unfortunately, the adverse is also true.

"Ah yes, these will do fine." After she removes a few of our affects, she pulls a key from under the counter. It now rests on a thin twig of a bone that's somehow passing for a finger. If one were to merely give that hand a civil shake, surely it would crumble to dust.

"Thank you very much." The woman hands our handy cloth bag back to the waiting arms of Syaoran. "We'll see you in the morning." Syaoran politely bows to her parting lines, then tosses the bag at Mokona, the white puffball swallowing it. You shake your head, still thinking this place far too shoddy to stay in undoubtedly, and stalk off towards the stairs.

"We'll all have to share a bed tonight. It's not a good idea to sleep on the floor." I smile at everyone, but particularly you. I make sure to make it look extra taunting.

"If those spiders weren't huge and green, I'd say screw you I'm on the floor." You continue up the stairs with me following. I watch the way you move like poetry, the way the dust particles in the air move out of your path, as if respectfully avoiding you.

I'm going to make sure I roll something higher tonight.

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Yeah, the game references are a little gay, but I gotta keep with the theme. I tried to make this chapter a little less crazy! I think I scared off a few readers last chapter…… sigh. And well, if you ignored the first author's note, PLEASE REVIEW! IT KEEPS ME ALIVE!!!!! Thank you for reading!


	3. just a chess piece

Thankyou to everyone who reviewed! When I opened my email and saw all the reviews and alerts and favorites I got I let out a huge squeel! However, it was quarter to 1 in the morning, so it wasn't the best idea on the account of my parents trying to sleep. XD Anyway, I promise to actually PROOFREAD this chapter! I'll go back and fix chapter 2 for you guys, and I'll try hard to make this chapter longer! Utada Hikaru will keep me writing!

Disclaimer: Don't own, but I can dream…….

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So, our sleeping situation is as follows: Sakura, Mokona, Syaoran, myself, a foot of empty space, your back. I had hoped that I could "accidentally" snuggle into your back, but it seems to be impossible since every time I inch closer you somehow find more space on your side. I wonder if you already know what I'm doing? Are you playing against me? If you are then I should just give up now, but that pesky glimmer of hope I haven't managed to stomp out keeps me in denial. It's so obvious you aren't interested in me, see as how you've already told me you hate me.

I keep wondering, "What would _really_ happen if I told him?" and three scenarios run through my jumbled brain of plots and regrets. The first scenario being that you are disgusted beyond all belief and never speak to me again. The second being that you respectfully decline my affections and agree to still be almost friends with me. The least likely is acceptance. Acceptance would ultimately be the best for me, but probably the worst for you. You'd grow to hate me the more you got to know me. You know much more about me now that we've gone through Celes, but that doesn't mean you understand who I am. You understand the _why_ but not the _what._

I try my luck again, rolling as naturally as possible towards you, but only an insignificant distance of around two inches. If you're asleep I don't want to ruin my best chance of succeeding. You don't move. So, a pawn's in place. I slowly continue, feeling more and more of your radiating heat. My knight's been set in place. An inch between us is the only thing left. It feels like a whole universe. I move my queen in, creeping closer towards your back, now able to see the muscles through the thin black shirt you're wearing tonight. My breath rolls into the hills of your shoulder blades.

And you roll over into some space I hadn't known was left next to you.

Checkmate for black.

The universe between us just gained a couple dimensions. I sigh, feeling the pang of rejection once more. The blankets cover my head, mussing my hair as I make my way under them to get out of the bed without causing too much of a disturbance. My feet touch the strangely warm floor as I manage to emerge from the bed. Old, unfinished wood is always warm. I step lightly towards the partially boarded up window, praying that those spiders primarily took up residence downstairs with their creepy mistress. The full moon is shining over the empty wasteland, making this desolated world look like it had some secret life stirring in it. Vibrant, young, silver sand dances in a ballet of small cyclones with the wind, dipping and being risen to the tempo of the earth. I wish our lives could be that carefree. I'm happy to help Sakura, but I wish she didn't need help in the first place, that we could have all just met for some indiscriminate reason and lived pleasant lives together.

As strange as it sounds, I miss my magic. What will I do should I desperately need it to protect someone? Will I watch as they die because of my incompetence? I look to you, wondering if you could possibly stand me for long enough to teach me how to fight better like you did for Syaoran. Well, I do know how to fight pretty well, but now that it's the only way to defend myself and others, I need it to be at my peak. I walk over to you, sitting down on the floor next to you. I look, but dare not touch. Even when you sleep, you keep your eyebrows carefully knit together, freezing the famous scowl to your face forever. If you really smiled, would you still sleep with that face? A more pressing question would be would time and space as we know it be changed forever?

I giggle a little at this thought, making a crucial mistake. Your eyes slowly open, and I dive my head under the bed.

To see two golden eyes looking back into my single one.

A hand grabs the top of my head. I hear your voice from above me asking what the hell I was doing. I hear a voice in my head following yours saying that if I wanted everyone to live, I better tell a damn good lie. I scramble around inside of my head for my mask of the happy fool. "Aw, Kuro-puu! Don't worry, there are no spiders down here!" I stare deep into the eyes of who I believe is now my captor.

"Well, that's great news, but what are you actually doing down there?" The claw like hand tightens around my skull, the crevices in it's dry skin are deep enough to uncomfortably pull a select few strands of hair.

"Well, mister ungrateful, I'm a paranoid person, so when I woke up from a dream I had I couldn't help but make sure there wasn't anything under here!" I observe a sigh from above my head and two orbs narrowing in front of it.

"….You're not sleeping well again?" Ah, I messed up now. I only don't sleep well when I need to feed and you know it. Now is the exact wrong time to do this.

"Well, you know, we are in a really creepy inn. I'm surprised that you were sleeping at all." My tone wasn't nearly as convincing as it should have been. It might have something to do with the headache the phantom hand was giving me.

"You're a bad liar mage. Always have been. Get up from under there." The bed above me moves like how a calm lake would should a house be dropped in it. The disembodied eyes widen. _Get up and say not a word about this. I'll be watching you. One hint about me, and you'll turn around to see two beheaded children in their eternal slumber. _The hand slips back into the shadow of the bed like an eel backing into it's hole in the coral, relieving my head of it's tremendous pressure. I slide myself out from under the mattress to rest on my calves once more.

"Kuro, really. In the middle of the night?" I hear you take out a dagger from your belt and I already know it's too late. I have no idea what that thing's reaction will be to me drinking from you, but I can only hope it's a non-violent one.

"If you don't drink now, you never will. Stop making excuses and stand up." There's no stopping it now, so with one last glance at the shadowy floor in front of me, I turn and stand. Anything could be hiding in the dark depths that our huge bed has created.

You're in front of the window, the moon shining in on your open wrist, little droplets of moonlight falling form it. I step towards you, trying to not trod on the floor too hard in fear of making a noise unpleasant enough to our guest to might make it keep it's word. I catch the scent of your blood as I move closer, and I feel the hunger awaken. I never said I didn't want to feed. I feel my movements become more fluid, my eyes more lustful and lidded, feeling more and more like the predator I've become. Like a snake. Your wrist is in my hand as I lean over, and with a last sensual glance into your eyes, shimmering in the silver light from outside, all my attention surges to your wound as my lips touch it. I pull back, licking it from my lips, savoring the metallic taste. Your blood has such a strange mix of flavors embodying all the aspects of your personality.

I flick out my tongue to glide over the opening, tasting the masculinity, pride, loyalty, rashness, and short temper that make up your surface. I bathe in these sweet appetizers, licking all around the edges of the cut. My mouth covers the entire effected area, my teeth sinking in a little in my enthusiasm. Now the tact, intelligence, compliance, father complex, compassion, and slight narcissism shows through. I feel your arm tense under my lips. I'm sure this isn't the most comfortable experience for you, but you chose this. You chose to save me not once, but twice, and the second time invariably made me forgive you for the first. I can't help but push my mouth closer to your skin. These sessions are the only times I really get to be close to you, if only physically and out of need. My teeth are in your skin, lips pressed hard enough to your arm to feel the steady beat pulsing. I don't even nee to suck, your heartbeat is strong enough to effortlessly pump your blood into my mouth, leaving my tongue to wander into the deepest part of the opening. Passion, love, hate, lust, hurt, fear, sorrow, anxiety, and trust all burst into my mouth, all flavors I've never experienced from you before. My tongue swirls around on your skin, relishing this new discovery.

"Mage."

My eye snaps open and my head snaps up, away from the velvet abyss that is you. I look up to you, finding my face only a few inches from yours. My left side is pressed against your front. Your chest is supporting my weight, and I feel how I move with it's in out movement. I feel your arm around me, helping your chest keep me from falling. A split second is all I have to enjoy the feeling before it'd become obvious that I liked that position. A lovers' position. A position of protection and warmth. One that we didn't fit into yet.

"Ah! Oh, I'm sorry Kuro-chii, I must have been hungrier than I thought!" I let your wrist fall so I can use my hands to push away from you. I find myself pressed closer to your chest and I can't understand why. I stare at the flat surface confusedly. I did just execute an _away_ motion, right? Maybe it's like those doors that say push, but you pull anyway. I try again, and still find myself there. "K..Kuro?"

"Fai, don't you find that you rather like this position?" My eyes widen as they are sent flying back to your face. We've rotated so that my targeted area isn't visible.

"Kurogane? What's wrong?" I search desperately in the darkness, looking for something to give me an understanding of the situation. You said my name. You're holding me. Your voice has a tenderness foreign to it's self. All the hints are there, but it's like a bad game of charades. The kind where you can guess the answer's a flying pig, but it turns out to be a watering can.

"Nothing's wrong. I just like this, and think you do too. You weren't next to the bed when I woke up because you were looking for spiders." What is _happening?!_ My neat little chess board is now lying in a crumpled heap next to the wall it was just thrown at.

"What are you saying? Something's wrong with you." You pull me closer, your chest now pressed against mine and I can't breathe.

"This is wrong.." I look away from you as you bring our faces ever closer, sharing the heat and static and air.

"…wrong…" Tears start pouring down my cheeks to be kissed by the ever present moonlight and the breath coming from you. Your hand comes to caress the wet surface, simultaneously pushing my head to be adjacent to yours.

I squeeze my eyes shut.

"..wrong!"

My last shuddering declaration barely escaped my mouth before it was covered by yours. Everything froze as my rose petals made contact with your sakura blossoms. Neither of us were moving. Our lips were together, but we're both trapped in this moment. I tentavely open my eye in shocked horror and I'm finally able to see both of yours, half lidded and strangely empty.

….empty……

They're never empty.

With a surge of anger, I push you away. The tinge of pain that stains my heart from this action is overshadowed by far by the rage flowing through me. I dive to the floor, looking for the creature I had completely forgotten. The shadows no longer had a secret to hide. I shoot up again, looking towards you, searching for it's presence on you. You look back at me, the light showing that your face is void of expression. The soulless pits in you head stare out at me, not a sign of recognition or emotion in them.

I take a step towards you to find that the world was suddenly whipped away from me. Everything is white tinged with blue and I swiftly turn around. I find those eyes staring back at me yet again with a backdrop of blue winter. This time however, it's not so disembodied. The haunting eyes seem to be connected to a head that had the same general shape of a human's. It and the rest of the body was covered in skin similar to that of an alligator, only stained dark blue with blotches of velvet. Pointed ears, long black hair that was wrapped up in a strangely neat ponytail, thankfully only two arms, but four legs were what comprised this thing. It did however, have a distinctly female shape, no matter how twisted it may be.

"You enjoyed that, did you not?" It's pointed crab-like legs clinked away from me on what was apparently the ground. It sounded like glass. "That was a desire of yours, yes?" The eyes swung towards mine, piercing into me.

"No. Not like that. _Nothing_ to that effect." I raise my hand and see my fingers and nails grow in my peripheral vision. My main focus is still on her. I vaguely wonder what has become of you in my short absence. I can only hope you're ok.

"Ah well, perhaps the means were not what you imagined, but the outcome was to you liking. See it in you I do." I break contact to look away in shame. I can feel her smugness from across the room. "Surely, noticed what I did you have?" She tinks over to me, placing herself directly in front of me like a strange sentinel. I turn back to her.

"Obviously. Why would you make him do that?" I feel the anger well up again inside me like a water balloon about to burst and I eel my stance become more defensive, but ready to strike.. I don't want to be too rash though. I can exact my revenge once she's done her bit.

"Well my dear, I wanted to show you what you could do." This throws me off a bit. Instead of being instantly thrown into a defenseless perplexed pose though, I strengthen my current one. "We are both vampires, young one. Vastly different stem species we are, but still the same." She shifts into a more relaxed position, showing off her confidence. She thinks I can't kick her ass. A widespread misconception.

"So we are. Yet I don't see the relevance." A small chuckle to herself, and some more tinking as she repositions herself again. It must be awkward to have so many appendages. She begins to pace in front of me.

"To do what I did to your dear Kurogane you can. I can teach you….for a price. All I require," a dramatic pause as she stops pacing to look directly at me," is a feather. I know that girl has some and I want one. One measly feather, in exchange for the power to realize your dream." I feel around with my mind to try to see if there's a weak point in whatever spell she's using on me so I can get out of this place. Turns out there are none. If I say no, she'll most likely just kill us all, and if I say yes, I'll be traitorous, greedy, and too selfish of a man for me to live with. I opt to remain silent. A moment passes between us, where she studies me, trying to see into me. Apparently she's more polite out in the open since she's not squeezing my brain out for the sake of telepathy. "Well, time to think you need. Give it I shall. Three days you have. When the moon looses it's luster, I will return for your answer."

The room dissipates into darkness, the last thing to fade out being her smiling eyes.

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OH MY GOODNESS I DEVELOPED A PLOT! It's seriously like a first. XD Anyway, this took like 2 hours to write, so hopefully it's long enough to quench your thirsts! And I FINALLY had a kiss scene. Sorry if it was a little lackluster, but hey man, hypnotism doesn't cover kissing techniques. Anyone notice that the spider lady talks like Yoda? XD I thought it'd be cool/funny. I decided that's how everyone in this world is going to talk. Hee. The spider lady started out as an orc in my head by the way, and it was much less cool. I hope she's cool now anyway….. At some point, Fai will kick a whole lot of ass by the way. Just because I have the need to make him able to fight and be even more awesome than he is now! But yes, I've rambled for long enough now. Please review, it's so encouraging! I typed this right after I read the last wave of reviews in a fit of pure love! Review so it'll happen again! Thankyou for reading!


	4. Checkers

Hello! I absolutely love reading reviews everyone! Every time I check my email and see all of them I get so excited that I have to write another chapter! So in other words, the more reviews I get, the more updates you get! Thankyou to everyone who has reviewed, you give me the confidence to keep going!

Disclaimer: Don't own, wish I did

Time lapses are now officially indicated by ...

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"Mage…" I roll over.

"Mage!" and roll the other way. It's like doing the electric slide on the floor.

"WAKE UP YOU IDIOT!" I sleepily flip off the voice and tell it to go away. It's far too warm and soft to even think of moving, not mention I'm still dead tired. I snuggle under the….blankets? I open my eyes finally to see that indeed, I am lacking a blanket.

"You know, I would love to leave you alone, but you're in my way." I decide to ignore this and push my head into my pillow. My flat, warm, comfy, breathing pillow.

…..wait.

I look up into your very much annoyed gaze.

"Oh….good morning Kuro.." Now that things have been explained, I can comfortably stay right where I am, balanced perfectly on top of you.

"GET THE HELL OFF!" Your hands punch the floor in frustration as your legs do the same. This is a rather humorous start to my day.

"Well, why don't you just push me off Mr.Muscles?" I smile as I bring my face up to yours, looking you straight in the eye. "Or maybe you like this position?" I quirk my mouth up into a sly smile.

_Don't you rather like this position?_

My eye widens as the memories from last night return. I suddenly just don't even want to be on the same planet as you and I spring away, looking down at your frozen body, still on the floor.

"Well, if I woke you up, you would torture me all day, saying how mean I was…" I'm shocked to see the color in your cheeks. Are you…lying? This is quite the development. Have the tables turned, or are you still being controlled? I feel the burn or hatred nip at my heart, but ignore it. It'd be best to not bring that up just yet.

"How true! Good thinking on your part Kuro! Well, I'm off to find breakfast!" I glance at your surprised expression as I flee from the room. Honestly, I can't be around you right now. I need to think on the events of last night. I make my way down the stairs and take careful note of who was in the downstairs lobby. Easy enough of a task. It's empty. I step out into the blistering desert to regrettably greet the day. All the buildings are just as they were before. Run down, eroded and baked in the sun. With no trees or natural defense to speak of, the town was at the weather's mercy.

I walk down the street, searching for even the faintest indication of life.

After an hour or so, I decide that the town is sufficiently deserted and take a seat at what looked like an old outside café. I have a sort of half baked plan going on right now. Ultimately, I have to defeat the crazy spider lady because I can't just let her take a feather from Sakura. The question of what to do with you though still remains. You, in all of your shining glory. Should I control you for my own selfish desires? I could be your puppet master, putting on the most romantic play in all the histories of all the worlds. But it would be _my_ play, not _ours_. Or I could still play my game, feebly trying to win you over in the most indirect way possible. Maybe I'm being counter-productive with it anyway. It might be giving out mixed signals, causing you to hide yourself from me.

I shake my head and set it down on my dusty table.

"Something to get you sir?" I jump at the sound of this foreign voice, instantly thinking of our visitor last night. A man in an old ragged uniform is standing in front of me, a paper pad in his hands.

"Oh, uh sorry. You surprised me. I thought this town was deserted." I smile apologetically at him. Perhaps this town is more of a tomb, and these people are it's occupants.

"Ah, understandable that is. Most inside stay. Many do not the sun like. The heat, harsh to our skin and eyes. We prefer the night mostly. A few awake stay, to serve customers from the outlands." His cat like eyes hold a certain innocence in them. He doesn't seem like a bad kind of guy.

"Well, that explains things. And yes, to answer your question, could I just get something cool to drink?" He nods politely and makes his way into the building, deftly weaving between tables and chairs, running the gauntlet that is the service industry. I see you and the others emerge from our current residence. Sakura and Syaoran wave you off and you start in my direction. My mind flicks back to less than twelve hours ago. I touch my lips in thought, trying to remember the exact texture of your lips, if they slid against mine like silk, or if they roughly pressed against me like how the land kisses the sky. I'm so lost in thought that I only notice your presence once you're seated in front of me.

"They went off to go try to find a library or records or something to learn more about this hell hole. Did you find your breakfast?" The bored sarcastic smile that graced your lips was all too perfect. With your elbow on the table and your arm supporting your head, you're the picture of exasperation. Perhaps it's the heat taking it's toll on you. You're not even wearing your armor.

"Nope, but I found there are people here." Your head rises with your eyebrows in curiosity, and right on cue, my eccentric waiter comes back. I study him as he maneuvers around the tables. He looks pretty normal, just his eyes are out of place. So, on my checklists of inhabitants of this world, there's creepy spider inn keeper, creepy spider feather collector, and cat waiter man.

"Here you are sir. Fruity it is, but to your liking I hope." He places a pink drink in a curvy glass in front of me. I wonder if It's alcoholic.

"Thankyou, it looks delicious!" This man seems to be polite and friendly enough, so I decide to ask him about the normal inhabitants of this world. I look at him with a small smile, trying to be as courteous as possible. "Excuse me but, we're from a country far away, so we don't really know the natives around here. Would you mind telling me the kind of people that are around here?" I see you take a sip of my drink out of the corner of my eye. Testing it for alcohol content I bet. You always were one for spirits.

"Oh, no problem. People born here have spider likeness. Befriend them and have very close bond they do. Outlanders have affinity to other animals they do. Snakes are some, rabbits others, cats myself. Depends on region they hail from." I look to you to see that you've inconspicuously put my drink back where it was exactly and are staring off into space. You're terrible at trying to look innocent. I turn my attention back to my conversation.

"Ah, well now, that makes things much less confusing. Thankyou very much." He bows himself away from us and I smirk towards you. "Did you think it was tasty Kuro-pon?" Your face twitches in annoyance. You should have known I'd find you out. You trying to hide something from me is like a shark trying to hide in a three foot pool.

"It was fine. It's just juice though." You look distastefully at my drink, innocently standing there, never having betrayed you, only your hopes. I take a sip of it, carefully placing my lips on the precise point you placed yours. I once again try to remember the feel of you. Miss tetra-legs flashes back into the foreground of my thoughts, reminding me of my plight. I can't fight her with my current level of skill.

"Kuro-muu, I have a favor to ask." you look up from picking your nails. "I was wondering if you could train me to fight better. Not with the sword though, I never was good with them. Do you know anything about staffs or anything?" You grow a very concentrated look on your face. Your confusion is written all over your face.

"Sure, I know how to use staffs and halberds and stuff like that, but why the sudden interest?" The level of scrutiny I'm receiving from you is a little uncalled for.

"Well, now that I don't have magic anymore, I don't have that much to defend myself , or anyone else for that matter, with. I don't want to become a liability." Not to mention all of the time we'll share, giving me plenty or opportunities to take my next move in our little game.

A moment of silence before you shrug a yes. I sip from my drink once more. It really is tasty, and I distantly wonder where the fruit for it grows. So now the red and black pieces are in place. All I have to do now is get to your side before time runs out. If I don't have all kings by the end of my third day, I might just take the deal and toss your pieces off of the mat all together.

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Ah, one more chapter written! Not a whole lot happened, but things are set up now for the rest of the story! Whoo! Kuro's showing something finally. Break that hard head of his and maybe the shell will fall off with it! Go Fai, go! So! Please review! Lots of love to anyone that does!


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